Oil Prices Up 2% and Brent Crude Hits $80.47 per Barrel

September 24, 2018

Oil prices rose 2% on Monday as U.S. sanctions restricted Iranian crude exports, tightening global supply.

Brent crude futures hit its highest since May at $80.47 per barrel, up $1.63 or more than 2%.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose by $1.18 to settle at $71.96.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories are at their lowest since early 2015 amidst a scares market. Although U.S. oil production is near a record high of 11 million barrels per day, subdued U.S. drilling activity points towards a slowdown in output.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as well as top producer Russia are discussing raising output to counter falling supply from Iran, although no decision has been made public yet.

Saudi Arabia and its biggest oil-producer ally outside the group, Russia, on Sunday ruled out any immediate extra increase in output, effectively rebuffing a call by U.S. President Donald Trump for action to cool the market.

(Reuters)